Human Resource Management - Reward Management - Essay Example

 Abstract Brain based industries and those industries which have the potential for creativity as well as innovation have assumed an enhanced level of importance in many national contexts, because such industries have the potential to provide competitive advantage which can enhance communities and provide global benefits. Although, the information technology sector has seen rapid growth over a relatively short span of time, this sector still has the potential for providing competitive advantage and influencing many other sectors in an economy. However, as in any brain based industry, well trained and highly motivated individuals are the resource which has the capability of being able to produce the desired innovations and creative solutions to make a difference. These precious human resources need not be plentiful, but have to be provided the right conditions of work and rewards in order to be able to make a difference. Hence, motivating employees and being able to deliver rewards for creative efforts are important considerations in any brain based industry, including the information technology sector. Reward management and the management of human resources in the information technology sector has, therefore, an important role to play in ensuring that the information technology sector is able to produce competitive products which are in demand globally so that industry can thrive, rather then dying as a result of undercapitalization or false economies which can prove to be destructive. Rewards have to be adequate and not just competitive, because it is the adequacy of rewards which will determine if the organization and its employee can continue to survive. Adequacy refers to rewards which can make it possible for the employees to provide a future for themselves and their dependants as well as being able to constantly enhance their skills with the rapid evolution of technology. In this essay, an attempt has been made to study the management of rewards in the information technology sector. Introduction Happy and well satisfied employees who produce perform creative work, create quality products or produce innovative designs as well as complex high technology products such as computer software are important for any business or organization because it is the quality of these efforts which can set an organization apart from the rest. Having an edge is important in a world that is becoming increasingly competitive, especially in industries that rely on being able to produce quality, innovative products and do not depend on mass production. Even in mass production, quality of the final product that is to be purchased by the consumer has the potential to radically change the profits, however, in the information technology, computer or other high technology industries, having a better solution, software package or being able to deliver a better solution at competitive prices can make or break the company. Well trained, highly motivated, dedicated employees who are willing to go that extra mile for their employer are, therefore, an asset and such individuals can be hard to find because of the specialized nature of jobs that are required to be performed. In order to ensure that there is a future for the organization as well as the employees who are able to deliver what is required to be a success, it is important that the employee is adequately and not just competitively compensated for the creative efforts that are required in the information technology or the IT sector. There is a distinction to be made between what can be considered to be “competitive” and what can be regarded as “adequate” and there is a tendency for such distinctions to show up in the output which is capable of being delivered. It is possible for employers in an industry to gang up at the national level in order to maintain a national wage structure which is inadequate for a desired level of performance and the future of an employee. Individual employers can then offer individual employees slightly better then the requirements of such a wage structure and call the compensation “competitive”. However, even the so called competitive rewards can prove to be inadequate, because they can neither offer a decent savings plan for the employee, nor can they offer an opportunity for them to better themselves. Inadequate rewards can, therefore, destroy industries, people and motivation resulting in the venture capital being lost without any significant returns being generated. The results of employees being paid inadequate compensation in labour intensive industries as distinct from industries that depend on innovation are, unfortunately, more clearly visible at an employee’s residence and usually result in individuals who cannot progress to attain their fullest capabilities. However, in high technology and information technology industries, payment of inadequate rewards can easily result in shoddy products which are not wanted by anyone, with the result that the whole industry collapses. Such has been the dilemma for the software industry in many a developing country. Hence, it has to be concluded that there is a requirement for a more professional approach to managing projects, work and people in brain based industries and the IT sector is a part of such a creative industry. Inadequately rewarded employees of brain based industries are incapable of going the extra mile which can make a difference, both in terms of motivation and having the requisite knowledge (Gustafsson, 2002, Chapters 1 – 3) and (Cohen, 1986, Chapters 1 – 6). Creativity and innovation are increasingly becoming important for the firm as well as the national economy and have been increasingly mentioned in management literature. Organizations which are creative as well as innovative have the capacity to provide competitive advantage and such efforts are necessary for national economies to survive in the competitive environment. Innovation or creativity may very well be the reason for the existence of many new companies, but these characteristics are equally vital for those established organizations which have to retain their edge or be driven out of business. Although, there are many factors which support innovation and creativity such as strategy, empowerment, corporate culture, networks and reward systems etc, it is the reward system that will be considered in this essay. Reward systems are important because if something is important, then the correct signals have to be sent by rewarding it, otherwise the important becomes irrelevant. Rewards are, however, not always monitory and managers are unconvinced that only monitory rewards are effective for creative industries such as the information technology sector. Reward systems can also include intangibles such as recognition by management, colleagues and others. Hence, it is the correct package which counts for doing a job and the package consists of a wide variety of things which are made possible as a result of a worker putting in the effort to perform a job. Some important ingredients included in a package can consist of being able to lead a life that the worker is accustomed to, being able to save enough for a decent retirement, being able to maintain a family, being able to pay for the healthcare requirements as well as being able to retrain, educate or transform oneself into a more competitive position by putting in the effort to do a job and having future security. However, the resources to provide such rewards are also not unlimited and it is, therefore, important that appropriate persons be empowered in order to ensure that a job is done, so that the rewards can continue to be provided by a successful industry or sector. Performance and productivity have to be maintained in order to maintain a competitive edge so that the rewards can be delivered. Hence, although in real life it may be difficult to provide the best possible rewards for any effort, especially the creative efforts entrepreneurs should at least be made to deliver what may be appropriately considered to be rewards within the standards of a community or society. However, performance in the brain based or creative industries including the IT sector is very much linked to the concept of adequacy. It is unlikely that company loyalty, nationalism, religious loyalties or community obligations can continue to provide a sustained or enhanced level of performance over long periods of time, unless such rhetoric is matched with adequate rewards. In an era of globalization, reward systems may also be required to be competitive internationally so as to retain the best that can make a difference. Hence, human resource management and the management of rewards is important for the IT sector because the innovations in this sector have the potential of providing the competitive advantage which can enhance the standards of living for a community (Newell, 2002, Chapter 4) and (Gustafsson, 2002, Chapters 1 – 3). In this essay, an attempt has been made to take a look at the management of rewards and the role that an organization or its human resource policies can play in motivating individuals in the information technology sector. Considerations involved in Developing Compensation Practices for the Information Technology Sector The function of compensation or reward systems is to motivate and retain desirable employees and enable the development of their skills as well as their careers. With globalization, skilled knowledge workers which are the most important resource in knowledge or brain based industry such as the IT sector, can cause a dilemma for the human resource managers because they have the ability to move to other countries and organizations. Generally, the following are the important considerations in designing compensation practices or reward systems (Gustafsson, 2002, Chapters 1 – 3) and (Dockel, 2003, Chapters 1 – 5): - Incentives based on performance are important in the reward system. - Benefits are an important part of the whole compensation package. - Compensation or reward is also dependant on organizational performance. - The reward systems should be designed to reward long term performance. - The seniority of an employee has to be recognised in the reward system and influences pay decisions. - Benefits should be generous and should adequately cater to the likely needs of the employee. - Incentives should be an important part of the whole package. - Increased pay should be influenced by the performance of an employee. - The reward system should be able to cater for the future of the employee and their life cycle needs. Knowledge workers have to be differentiated from other types of labour because knowledge workers are an investment which can influence the future of an organization, having the ability to directly influence productivity as well as influence the development of other workers by the sharing of their knowledge with others. Because these employees have a capability for creativity and problem solving, they bring multi-faceted capabilities into the organization. Knowledge workers in all sectors including the IT sector have knowledge and a capacity for enhancing on their knowledge base. They are better considered as entrepreneurs and investors in an organization. There are many facets associated with the management of the knowledge worker, including managing core competencies, concepts, strategic capabilities, intellectual capital management as well as knowledge management. However, strategic rewarding is the current practice and it is considered to reward individuals based on the strategic objectives of the organization. When rewarding knowledge workers, there is a tendency not to be solely concerned with collective agreements, industry practices and job evaluation systems. The individual is important in knowledge based industries and can be more important then the whole group. Although industry practices need to be considered as an indicator of what is going on, it is the organizational objectives and the competitive advantage which a knowledge worker can bring into an organization that is of the greatest importance. The skilled – based pay system is more appropriate for the blue collar workers and employees at the lower level of the organisational hierarchy. This system attempts to measure if employees have attained certain skills which are regarded as being essential to do a job. Skilled – based pay systems may also be complimented with performance incentives but these systems can become too bureaucratic and rigid for the creative organization. Creative knowledge workers are better rewarded by informal systems that are based on competencies associated with being able to perform the creative tasks that are required to be accomplished in an organization. Such an approach is more appropriate because in creative job functions such as programming, every problem is a relatively new problem which has to be solved by using the creative abilities and knowledge of the knowledge employee. Previous work experiences, knowledge which has been acquired and previous attempts at developing successful solutions may be an indicator of the ability of an individual to successfully formulate a solution to a problem that is required to be solved. However, each problem that is required to be creatively solved requires a fresh approach. Hence, the competency based approaches for rewarding employees attempt to consider demonstrable characteristics of individuals which enable performance including knowledge, skills, experiences, personality traits and abilities when determining the level of compensation. Rewarding as a human resource management tool should be able to support corporate strategy, create motivation, commitment, retention and knowledge sharing or dissemination. Without adequate rewards, employees may be unwilling to share their knowledge and assist with the development of an organization or their colleagues. Team efforts can be assisted with appropriate reward structures which can be of benefit in the creation of collaborative groups. Combining both competency management and rewarding is not easy, but due consideration should be given to the following (Dockel, 2003, Chapters 1 – 5), (Costigan, 2000, Complete) and (Bloom, 2000, Complete): - The types of competencies that are part of an individual and how these fit with corporate objectives. - It should be ascertained if the skills that are being considered in an employee are the skills of the past, present or the future and how these skills can be built upon. - Skill development and acquisition may be assisted with a progression in pay. - Can the employee be encouraged to develop his skills horizontally, (cross skilling), vertically with progressively greater management responsibilities or at a greater depth for deeper proficiency in a skill. The corporate objectives and individual desires should be considered and reconciled. - Will new skill generation and career development be driven by the worker or the organisation? - Who are the actors who can evaluate an employee’s skills and competencies? Should other managers, peers, consultants etc be involved? Previous employers, life experiences and educational institutions attended should also be considered. - The degree of formalisation of the evaluation process is important. Informal methods are more appropriate because having an experienced candidate sit for written examinations or tests for a position is unlikely to provide significant information about the candidate especially if the candidate has been out of an academic institution for several years. Many highly successful innovators, creators and problem solvers do not retain all their knowledge in their brains all the time but have well developed processes for creating and problem solving coupled with experiences which provide the foundations for a superior creativity. Most professors are likely to fail intermediate mathematics examinations if they were asked to pass such tests as a part of their selection process in a creative industry (Cohen, 1986, Chapters 1 – 9). The issues associated with the development of competency – based reward systems include those associated with the definition of competencies, methods of linking competencies with pay, the objectives behind linking competencies with pay and the broad corporate strategy, the number of employees covered by the reward systems and the degree of implementation of the reward system. It is appropriate to study a job and determine the competencies that are likely to be required in order to perform the required job function and produce results. The pay that is to be provided may be linked with the competencies which an individual posses or the person based pay or the pay may also be linked to the demands of the job as well as the required competencies for the job. Judgement may need to be exercised and pay can also be linked to the monitored performance. It is important to be fair because procedural justice can not only result in fair compensation, assist with the hiring of the right employees who can contribute to the organization and also assist in societal progress by providing opportunities for individuals with a potential. However, it is important to realise that the selection procedures should not become so cumbersome that they start to deter applicants because it is important to find the right individuals for a creative organisation and not to drive away people who can contribute. Discrimination, equal opportunity and affirmative action are important and more important in the public sector, but it is equally important to get the job done and create the knowledge organization (CCH Australia, 2000, Complete) and (Goss, 2001, Complete). Although money is an important consideration in being able to hire and retain a creative employee in the information technology sector, as long as the pay is “good”, “liveable” and “fair”, other factors influence the decision to stay with an organisation. When offered salaries in which adequate savings for the future and family needs are being provided, several other factors come into play in the decision of an employee to stay with an organization. Career, being able to fulfil training needs, support of supervisors as well as acceptance and being able to work on worthwhile projects become important with an adequate pay package. Flexibility, work and family balance as well as bonus schemes and profit sharing arrangements can also be motivators that influence decisions to continue with an organization. One time recognition awards are not effective in motivating and retaining employees. Periodic salary increases and non-cash awards contribute to the happiness and motivation of employees. Employees in the IT as well as other creative sectors are not concerned about how the benefits that they receive are administered, but they are more interested in how these benefits have an impact on them. Creating can often mean that employees are working to solve problems and this can sometimes mean relentless work without regard to office hours. When a milestone has been achieved, it is motivating for an employee to receive some paid time off to recover from the hectic efforts that may have been made. Luxury automobiles for those who have surpassed their goals, pets in the office, playrooms, onsite gyms, quite rooms that are conducive to concentration and the enhancement of team work as well as modest high technology gifts such as a special software package, handheld computers or a laptop can also serve as incentives for motivation. An organization should be able to offer security, enhanced self worth, autonomy as well as recognition in order to motivate individuals. Because of the project nature of activities that are often undertaken in the IT organizations, it is increasingly becoming difficult for permanent lifetime employment to be made available to employees. This is an unfortunate state of affairs because often it takes a lifetime to achieve a level of excellence and make a difference. The negative impact of this lack of permanence is that employees have to shape their own careers and think about themselves because the concept of a fair contract between an organization and its employee no longer exists and relatively few organizations can offer long term security. The emphasis has shifted towards the satisfaction of organizational and individual needs and this influences commitment. Because an organization is reluctant to provide security and pensions, the individual has to consider their own long term benefits and may refuse to give because they do not receive. However, most of those employees who are worth retaining will have a grasp of the situation and will like to negotiate for their benefits. It is important to be fair, because even though an employee may be willing to keep their mouth shut and give a little in order to get out of a spot, they are very likely to quickly move on to better opportunities. It is important that an organisation be able to demonstrate to an employee that there are gains to be made as a result of working fairly, sharing knowledge and contributing to an organisation with dedication. An organisation can demonstrate its fairness by rewarding fairly otherwise employees cease to contribute or leave for greener pastures (Martinsuo, 2004, Pp. 33 – 41), (Randa, 2003, Complete) and (Hull, 2003, Complete) and (Stenmark, 2003, Complete). Individuals who are involved in creative IT work as compared to the mundane are more likely to be inclined to do interesting work that provides a stimulation for their knowledge, skills as well as adding to their knowledge base. Hence, it is important to design the job properly, if possible, because this can add to stability and a desire to remain with the organization. Greater job autonomy in which there is discretion for initiative and decision making keeps an employee interested, although it has to be recognised that the employee has to work within the wider aims and objectives of an organization. Hence, creative IT sector employees are looking for empowerment but this empowerment can only be granted when an employee is mature enough to be able to make the correct decisions, something which is likely to take some time. Skill variety, which involves the employee being presented with an opportunity to exercise a number of talents and skills in a job, is likely to generate a higher level of attachment to the organization. However, the scramble for rewards often means that competition between employees will result in lower levels of cooperation with each other on the job and in training each other or knowledge sharing. Because employees work in teams, it is important to reward the team so that even those employees who are relatively young, new or inexperienced and did not contribute significantly can be motivated to do better in the future for the team and get a demonstration of corporate fairness. Sharing of knowledge can be seen by the employees as loosing knowledge and therefore loosing power. Although the organization and other workers may want an employee to share their knowledge or to use it for corporate good, the knowledge worker may try to retain their knowledge until they are comfortable that their colleagues and the organization will not treat them unfairly when the knowledge has been shared. In many organizations that are undercapitalised and have little to offer an employee on top of the base salary, some interesting scenes may be witnessed in which senior colleagues and fellow workers as well as the corporate administration resort to threats of dismissal, verbal harassment and insulting in order to try and force an employee to share their knowledge. Such scenes can be witnessed in the IT industries of many third world countries where it is exceedingly difficult to find jobs and wages are never adequate. Despite such tactics, the experienced knowledge worker will find ways not to share their knowledge unless they are adequately rewarded and recognised. Interesting scenes can be witnessed in such companies in which employees can be found wondering out aloud about what they will contribute to the company they work for and what they will be receiving in return. Such companies usually end up getting destroyed as they are unable to excel because of their corporate culture. Although the corporate administration can try to instil the appropriate culture for knowledge sharing in an organisation, it is also appropriate to hire the right kind of employees and try to motivate them. Because corporate culture is influenced by the work floor employees, therefore, hiring thugs and concentrating on trying to motivate them has the potential to misfire. Coercion can result in the knowledge worker delivering without adequate rewards in an economy where opportunities are limited and there are limited opportunities to seek justice, however, the knowledge worker does not deliver completely and find other ways of getting even with the company, resulting in shoddy products which cannot compete or sell and thus all the investment that has been made on a project can come to nothing because the rewards were inadequate. Whereas teams can be working for the corporate good and trying to cohesively solve problems, it is also likely that unless knowledge sharing is rewarded by the organization, knowledge workers will try to gain empowerment by withholding their knowledge or make the entry of new employees with potential difficult into the organisation by acting in a thuggish manner. Corporate managers must also try to keep this behaviour under control by ensuring that they have an adequate database of candidates available to replace those in the organisation. However, it has to be remembered that the replacements are very likely to do resort to the same tactics unless they are appropriately rewarded. It is the job of the organisational managers to act fairly and nurture a culture in which individuals can contribute without hijacking the organisation or coercing others because of their knowledge. Hence, although a knowledge worker should be rewarded for their efforts and the sharing of knowledge, they should not be made to feel that they can act unfairly towards others or the organisation and get away with it (Dockel, 2003, Chapters 1 – 5), (Holbrook, 2003, Complete) and (Lindahl, 2002, Complete). Although it is appropriate to link promotions, bonuses and pay increments to performance, it is also important that the base compensation which an employee is provided with is adequate for them to be able to put up a fight to do better in the future. Paying employees a compensation that is inadequate for living or unfair, is unfortunately a practice in the IT sector of many a developing country. Organisational attempts to motivate the employees to do better and “invest” in the corporation rarely work because the employee does not have the capability to put up a fight to do better, especially when sustained efforts are involved. Such attempts can generally result in a prolonged fight between the organisation and the knowledge workers in which nothing is given and nothing received. However, the reason why many third world countries have been able to even try to get away with such practices is because they have managed to raise an army of poorly trained and inadequately compensated IT knowledge workers who cannot produce quality and hence they and their companies are doomed to destruction. It is important to remember that in knowledge based industries, quality of the workforce is important and not their numbers. It is more important that an IT project be able to produce high quality products or solutions and succeed then for it to fail and result in a loss of the investment made. Hence, IT industries can only recruit and provide a long term career for the most suited employees with novel skills and an ability to create. Such employees have to be motivated and compensated adequately with the hope that their successes in the IT sector can result in broader economic successes for a community. The individuals selected have to be just right for the job and should be able to carry a project to its successful completion. Hence, they should be able to do the job (Holbrook, 2003, Complete), (Sorge, 1997, Pp 433 – 502) and (Stenmark, 2003, Complete). Good team building and the flexibility which employees in brain based industries desire has been made more achievable through the evolution of computer and communications technologies. Providing employees access to such technologies and permitting a greater level of flexibility in the organisation can result in work getting done more productively. The important consideration is that progress is being made and work is being done and it is not important if an employee can at times create better by doing some tasks at home. Tactics involving excessive control of the knowledge worker such as removal of disk drives in order to prevent workers from removing code from the workplace or attempting to limit their access to the internet at the office often backfire because they give employees a claustrophobic feeling which coupled with poor remuneration will most likely result in employees who are not motivated. Fairly treated employees who have been adequately informed about corporate secrecy requirements are unlikely to cheat on their employers because they have a lot going for them at where they work. Seymour Cray, the designer of Cray supercomputers found it more productive to think and work while digging tunnels at his ranch, but he did produce the winning designs (Bernadine, 1998, Complete), (Gustafsson, 2002, Complete) and (Dockel, 2003, Complete). Conclusion The challenges faced by human resource managers and corporate managers when they are trying to motivate and make the knowledge worker in the IT sector deliver the creations of their mind are rather different from the challenges of managing those who work in production or routine operations. The knowledge worker has to be happy and enjoy creative freedom within the broad aims of the organisation. Compensation has to be adequate and it is important to select the relatively few who have the novel experiences and skills which can produce results. These selected few then have to be motivated by incentives, freedom, empowerment, recognition, education and team work to produce the best because there is a very competitive world out there. References / Bibliography 1. Armstrong, M. (1997). Job Design. Personnel Management Practice. 6th Edition. Kogan Page. Pp. 379 – 389. 2. Bernadine, HJ and Russell, JEA. (1998). 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